Monroe Parker "Tink" Gillam[1] was a college football, baseball, and basketball coach. Born in Dadeville, Alabama, Gillam attended Birmingham College, where he played baseball, basketball, and was a halfback on the football team.[2] After graduating in 1919, Gillam was athletic director at Southern Military Academy in Greensboro, Alabama, from 1920–1921 and assistant athletic director at Mississippi College from 1921–1923.
Beginning in 1923, Gillam was an assistant football coach and head basketball coach at Mercer University.[3] He won back-to-back Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball titles as coach at Mercer, earning him the title "the Napoleon of Southern basketball".[4]
Gillam then moved to Clemson College, where he spent two seasons as a football assistant, and was head basketball coach in 1925–26 and 1926–27, and head baseball coach in 1927.[5]
Gillam was inducted into the Birmingham–Southern Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.[6]
Head coaching record
Basketball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer Bears (SIAA) (1923–1925) | |||||||||
| 1923–24 | Mercer | 22–6 | 6–1 | ||||||
| 1924–25 | Mercer | 14–6 | ? | ||||||
| Mercer: | 36–12 (.750)[7] | ||||||||
| Clemson Tigers (SoCon) (1925–1927) | |||||||||
| 1925–26 | Clemson | 4–17 | 1–7 | ||||||
| 1926–27 | Clemson[8] | 2–13 | 1–7 | ||||||
| Clemson: | 6–30 (.167) | 2–14 (.125) | |||||||
| Total: | 42–42 (.500) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Baseball
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Clemson | 11–13–1 | |||||||
| Total: | 11–13–1 (.460) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
- ^ a b "Bulletin of Mississippi College". May 1922. p. 10. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ "Birmingham Battles Spring Hill Thursday". Birmingham College Reporter. October 27, 1916. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ Wilder, Robert E. (August 12, 2011). Gridiron Glory Days: Football at Mercer, 1892-1942. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780881462678 – via Google Books.
- ^ "N.C. Declines To Play Bears For The Honor" (PDF). The Mercer Cluster. March 6, 1925. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ "Clemson Tiger Invades Blue Camp for Game". The Kentucky Kernel. University of Kentucky. October 9, 1925. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ "Sports Hall of Fame". Birmingham-Southern College. Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ Tharp, Will. "2018-19 Mercer Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Mercer University. pp. 49–50, 62. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
- ^ Mitchell, Red (December 15, 1926). "Thru the Field Glasses". The Tiger. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
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